A senior PSNI officer leading the investigation into the murder of Kevin McGuigan in east Belfast has linked the killing to the Provisional IRA.
Det Supt Kevin Geddes said the investigation was at an early stage, but definite lines of inquiry are being pursued in relation to the killing of the 53-year-old outside his home at Comber Court in the Short Strand area of east Belfast on Wednesday, August 12th.
It has been suggested ex-Provisional IRA members shot dead the father of nine in a revenge attack over the May murder of former IRA commander Jock Davison in the Markets area of the city.
Det Supt Geddes said the PSNI deals in “hard information, intelligence and facts” and not speculation. “A main line of enquiry in this investigation is that Kevin McGuigan was murdered by individuals seeking revenge for the murder of Jock Davison in May. Part of this main line of enquiry is that a group which calls itself Action Against Drugs (AAD) was closely involved in the murder.
“On August 6th AAD stated that it intended to ‘execute’ the killer or killers of Jock Davison. Our assessment is that AAD is a group of individuals from a variety of backgrounds – some criminals, some violent dissident republicans and some former members of the Provisional IRA – who have formed into a dangerous, possibly murderous, grouping in order to pursue their own criminal agenda. This criminal agenda includes extortion and violence against the nationalist and republican community.”
On the status of AAD, he added: “Our assessment is that AAD is an independent group which is not part of the Provisional IRA. But it is also our assessment that some members and associates of AAD are, or were, members of the Provisional IRA. One of our major lines of enquiry is that members of the Provisional IRA were involved in this murder.
“I have no information to say at this stage whether this was sanctioned at a command level or not and I am not prepared to speculate about that.”
Dark clothing
Det Supt Geddes appealed to anyone who was in the Comber Court area on August 12th at around 8.50pm and saw two people wearing dark clothing to get in touch.
The two masked men, who shot Mr McGuigan in the chest and head in front of his wife Dolores, are said to have run through houses in the Harper Street and Beechfield Street area of the city.
The senior officer acknowledged tensions were running high and appealed for “calm in the community and no retaliation. No other family should have to suffer the pain of loss which the McGuigan family is currently enduring.”
So far in the investigation one man has appeared in court on a firearms charge.
A number of firearms have been recovered, eight arrests have been made and two suspects remain in custody.
Mr McGuigan’s relatives have publicly accused the IRA but Sinn Féin has repeatedly rejected suggestions of IRA involvement.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness used social media to communicate his thoughts on Thursday’s developments. “The people who murdered Jock Davison are criminals,” he said. “Those who murdered Kevin McGuigan are also criminals. They must be brought to justice.”
Ulster Unionist Party leader Mike Nesbitt MLA said that the PSNI cannot leave the assessment they have released regarding potential Provisional IRA (PIRA) involvement in the murder of Mr McGuigan hanging in the public domain without further details.
“This is a very stark statement from the PSNI,” said Mr Nesbitt. “But it asks questions as well as answering the question of PIRA involvement. The potential that members of a terrorist organisation that we had been told had decommissioned its weapons and wasn’t even supposed to be in existence could still be orchestrating murder on our streets is a very serious development.
“This information cannot be left hanging in the public domain and we need clarification around three options that seem to exist here: the first one is that members of the PIRA carried out this murder on their own initiative; the second is that the perpetrators sought and received sanction from a higher authority; and the third option is that it was not sanctioned but actually ordered by leaders of the Republican movement.
“Could it be that the Republican movement retained a PIRA unit with access to weapons to deal with situations that they deemed required a dip back into the old terrorist ways?
“Every politician at Stormont has signed up to going forward through purely political, non-violent means. If there is still some form of PIRA structure in existence, we need to know.
“This statement from the PSNI raises many questions. It is important that those questions are answered, otherwise the poison of speculation will fester and infect the political process.
“I have already spoken to the Chief Constable about today’s PSNI statement and impressed upon him the need to flesh out what they have put into the public domain. We must have further details in the immediate future as the proper political reaction will rely on the facts.”
Belfast Agreement
TUV leader Jim Allister said: "Now that the PSNI have come out and said that Provisional IRA members were involved in the murder of Kevin McGuigan it is time for Unionists who work the Belfast Agreement to face up to reality.
"The DUP and UUP claim that they are only in government with Sinn Féin because the Republican movement has changed. The murder of Robert McCartney a few years before devolution was restored and the murder of Paul Quinn shortly after it was restored proved that was nonsense.
“Now, again, pro-agreement Unionism must face up to the uncomfortable reality that they partner a party in government which not only justifies the actions of the IRA in the past but whose IRA clearly still reserves the right to act as judge, jury and executioner.
"Belfast Agreement devolution has brought Northern Ireland to the brink of financial ruin with no money left even to cut the grass verges. But there is a much more profound question which must be answered who all profess to believe in democracy and the rule of law – just how many murders are the failed political institutions worth? This is no time for excuses. This is a time for facing reality."